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22 July 2017

Essential Tips for Your First Family Camping Trip

Camping with your kids is an experience to cherish for many years to come. You will enjoy plenty of laughter and lots of fun, plus it will be an incredibly enriching experience too. However, you may be worried that camping as a family can be stressful; especially if this is not something you have done before. The key is to be prepared. Read on to discover some essential tips for your first camping trip.

Keep it simple – Children get tired quickly, and they will need to rest more than you do. By trying to get your kids to do too much, you will probably end up with a few tantrums on your hands. Instead, keep things simple. Pace yourselves and ensure that there are always snacks available. After all, there is nothing worse than a tired and hungry child!

Build experiences – Camping is all about letting children explore and taking them away from their typical environment. You should see this as an opportunity to teach your children various skills. For example, you can show them how to identify various native animals and plants, as well as getting them to assist with camp chores, like collecting firewood. Try to limit their exposure to gadgets and their mobile phones while camping, as modern technology merely distracts from what camping is all about.

Plan ahead – The importance of planning ahead cannot be underestimated. The vast majority of miserable camping scenarios can be avoided if you have prepared properly. The first thing you need to do is choose a camping site. Make sure you choose one that is popular with families. Once you have done this, you then need to get all of your equipment together. It is a good idea to make a list of all of the items you require. You can then check each item off as you are packing, ensuring you don’t forget anything. Of course, a tent should be the first thing on your list. Buying a Vango inflatable tent is a good idea, as they are much easier to put up than standard tents that come with fibreglass or steel poles. Also, you should buy high-quality sleep bags; the last thing you want is for your kids to complain that they want their bed!

Stay safe – The most important thing to remember when it comes to any camping trip is to stay safe. Safety should be your main priority. Make sure people can see where they are going around your campsite – it needs to be well lit. You should also carry a well-stocked first aid kit with you, just encase any injuries or accidents occur while you are camping.

Plan your meals – Last but not least, planning your meals is so important when you have kids with you. Of course, this can be extremely difficult when you don’t have cupboards or a fridge to choose from. However, if you plan beforehand, you will know exactly what to bring with you, and you can eliminate unnecessary weight from your rucksack in the process.

3 comments:

I work in a large camping shop and these tips are great. Something we use daily when speaking to our customers. The inflatable tents have been extremely popular, especially in the last year. Poles tend to break easily if they're misused and they're also heavy. We rarely get a tent with a air chamber punctured or faulty. Also alot of the tents come with a mosquito net which helps against bugs, you can also use citronella candles on the outside of the tent safely and sprays will help. You can buy one called "SMIDGE" which is DEET free which is very effective also :)

We did all this on our 1st camping trip, the weather was meant to be beautiful so we went to the campsite, I took our daughter to the park on site while my partner and son put the tent together, that evening it started raining so we spent the evening in the tent with pizza hut, the next day was lovely so we went to the beach and local town, then it rained again in the night, we got cold and wet, but our children still loved it, Sunday was windy trying to put the tent down, but we managed and all in all enjoyed it, we can't go this year as the baby is only four months old but will definitely be going next summer xxx